Job searching resources

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   New! SAGE Skills: BusinessScreen capture of the logo of SAGE Skills: Business
An interactive resource designed to help students develop and practice the skills needed to transition from campus to the modern workplace. Features flexible learning tracks with self-assessments, expert videos, and virtual scenarios for self-paced learning across five modules: data analytics, leadership, entrepreneurship, organizational communication, and professionalism. 

Start with the Job Search and Interviewing, Career Readiness, and Personal Selling and Brand Management topics, but be sure to check out the other topics and skills! See this blog post for more on SAGE Skills: Business, and this post for details on its 2023 expansion.

Note that this database is also available for off-campus access by SFU alumni. 

Introduction

This guide is organized around the Career Development Model used by SFU's Career Centre. It moves from resources used to explore aptitudes and plan career paths at the personal level to resources used to explore the nature and future of particular jobs and occupational fields, and then to the resources targeted toward getting a specific job.

Note that the primary focus of this guide is on the job-hunting resources available via the SFU Library. For additional starting points for this topic, check out the "Other sources of information" section below.

Other sources of information

SFU Career Services, MBC 0300

SFU Career and Work offers a range of services for all SFU students and recent graduates. Explore your career options and enhance your work search skills with one-on-one career advising, workshops, events, walk-in sessions, individual consultations and online services.

Drop by MBC 0300 for personal assistance from career advisors, counsellors or peer educators. They also offer a variety of self-help career resources, including videos, books, pamphlets and career software for career planning and exploration and work search.

Beedie Career Management Centre (SFU Business)

SFU's Beedie Career Management Centre, available to all business students and alumni, provides resources and training to help students search for career employment. Students and alumni can access support for resume and cover letter writing, interview strategies, networking and business etiquette.

Check the SFU Business Career Management Centre website for a schedule of upcoming events & workshops, career advising appointments, and job postings.

Vancouver Public Library (VPL)

Start with VPL's Career and Job Search page for resources ranging from resume-writing clinics to company and career directories.

Also see VPL's Skilled Immigrant Info Centre, especially their very useful employment guides by industry.

Discovering the self: Career planning and development

Try the following terms in the Subject section of the Catalogue using Browse Search. Note that these same terms can also be used in other library catalogues (e.g., Vancouver Public Library and Burnaby Public Library).

Exploring the world of work: Information about professions and occupations

For books that tell you about employment prospects and the skills and qualifications which are necessary for specific occupations, try the following subject terms in our Catalogue: Occupations & Professions,

Also try searching for the name of an occupation or profession in addition to "vocational guidance." For example, Engineering -- Vocational guidance or (vocational guidance) AND (finance OR banking OR investment).

A few resources you might want to start with:

The targeted job search: Information about job-hunting and companies

Searching our Catalogue

 

Try the following Subject terms in our Catalogue using Browse Search. Note that these same terms can be used in other library catalogues as well.

Here are a few examples of the online books available for SFU researchers:

General job-hunting resources in journals, magazines and newspapers

Try these databases to start:

CBCA Complete
CBCA provides comprehensive coverage of Canadian topics, including business, politics and news events.

Canadian Newsstream
Full text of many major Canadian newspapers (including the Vancouver Sun and Province and the Globe & Mail). Also includes many smaller city papers such as the Burnaby Now.

Business Source Complete
Full text for thousands of business journals and magazines in all business areas. Includes many popular business magazines from both the US and Canada such as Canadian Business and Fortune.

Academic Search Premier
Covers thousands of journals in a broad range of disciplines, including political science, public administration, language and literature, communications, business administration, biological and medical sciences, computer sciences, education and history. Offers full text for more than 150 Canadian publications, including Canadian Business and Maclean's. 

Background information on specific companies

Before you go for your interview, check the Library for information about the company. Look at the SFU Library guide Company Information which mentions many sources of information. Also check out the SFU Library guide to Industry Surveys.

Here are some good sources for company information to get you started:

The Business in Vancouver book of lists [print]

Some magazines regularly publish lists of "best companies to work for" as well as lists of largest companies in various sectors. Such lists can often be found by searching indexes like CBCA and Business Source Complete. Here are a few samples:

CBCA Complete
CBCA provides comprehensive coverage of Canadian topics, including business, politics and news events. One key local resource to watch for is Business in Vancouver (BIV).

Canadian Newsstream
Full text of many major Canadian newspapers (including the Vancouver Sun and Province, and the Globe & Mail). Also includes many of BC's smaller city papers such as the Burnaby Now.

Directories of companies both in Canada and abroad

Contacting companies directly to ask about potential opportunities can lead to jobs that are not posted on traditional job boards or in classified listings. Many job opportunities are unadvertised, making the hidden job market one of the most elusive ways of finding work, but potentially one of the best ways.

  • Start with Mergent Intellect (link goes to a blog post with context and access details), then check our Company Information guide for further database suggestions.
     
  • Career and Work (SFU) offers assistance with international job searches, including other North American countries and overseas. Contact them for more information or to schedule a consultation.
     
  • The Government of  Canada also has information on jobs and training, including details on trends in the Canadian Labour Market and a countrywide Job Bank.